As I said last year:

There is no telling what the consequences of using these genetically modified foods will be. Already, investigators have found that rats fed genetically modified potatoes had an increased thickening in the lining of their stomach and intestine and a weakening of their immune system. Further, some scientists want to put vaccines into plants without any real knowledge of what effects this unnatural addition will have on human health, or the health of our planet.

This is SHEER LUNACY.

What these scientists have failed to fully appreciate is that once these genetically modified plants are growing it is physically impossible to prevent them from pollinating other plants, thereby contaminating them with these new proteins, of which we do not know the long-term consequences.

The absurdity of the entire process is mind-boggling. These scientists are willing to sacrifice the country’s food supply by adding vaccines, which do not even work, to plants.

If this continues, our grandchildren may not have access to any non-genetically modified food, and the health of our society may continue to rapidly decline.

One of the keys to health is good food. Although most of us don't choose to do so, we can still purchase real, unaltered food in this country. Sadly, the future does not appear to provide this option.

Genetically modified foods did not exist prior to 1995. Ninety percent of the money Americans spend on food is spent on processed foods, and seventy percent of processed foods have genetically modified foods in them.

There have been NO STUDIES done with humans to show what happens when genetically modified foods are consumed. The FDA has ASSUMED that these modified foods are equivalent to the original foods and does not require any studies to have them approved, despite the fact that this technology has never before existed in the history of the world.

This is especially troubling in light of the United State’s federal track record on genetically engineered safety, which is terrible.

For example, last year genetically modified Starlink corn was approved for animal consumption, but NOT human consumption because of a concern that it could cause allergies in humans. However, Starlink corn would up directly in the human food supply, despite FDA precautions.

There are EIGHT different agencies in the United States regulating biotechnology under 12 different sets of laws. NONE of the laws had biotechnology in mind when they were passed, as they are 40 to 50 years old.

This lack of regulation and total irresponsibility in using genetically modified foods is a disaster waiting to happen.

GMO Soybeans Are NOT Providing the Benefits They Were Claimed To

Noted biotech expert Dr. Charles Benbrook, of the Northwest Science and Environmental Policy Center, released an explosive report on herbicide-resistant Roundup Ready (RR) soybeans May 2.

The report, based upon recent USDA and university research, not only reaffirms previous studies that RR soybeans produce less of a yield (5-10% less) than conventional soybeans, and that weeds are growing resistant to Roundup, but also that farmers growing the GE soybeans are using considerably more herbicide than farmers who are cultivating non-GE varieties.

As Benbrook points out, RR soybean growers are on the average using one-half pound more of herbicide (in this case Monsanto' s broad-spectrum Roundup) per acre-which amounts to 20 million more pounds of toxic herbicides being sprayed this year on American soybean fields. "You just can't say with a straight face that the Roundup Ready system reduces herbicide use if the measurement you're talking about is pounds per acre," Benbrook said.

Even more alarming for Monsanto are Benbrook's observations that RR soybean plants, due to damage to an important chemical plant pathway, are more susceptible to plant diseases such as sudden stress syndrome. The American Soybean Association (ASA) immediately attacked Benbrook's report, calling it "sowing seeds of distrust" in a national press release.

Interestingly enough, the ASA had nothing credible to say in terms of disputing Benbrook's central thesis (less yield, growing weed resistance, and more use of pesticides), but rather relied on the well-worn argument that RR soybeans must be great since so many farmers are planting them.

Of course the main reason hapless US soybean farmers (who generally receive less money per bushel for their beans from ADM and Cargill and other wholesale buyers than it costs to produce them) are planting RR beans, besides the massive "price support" subsidy the USDA provides to soybean growers, is to save them time.

It takes less time to spray several applications of Roundup than it does to spray several of the 15 or so different herbicides which non-GE soybean grower's use.

With 88% of the average farm family's income now derived from off-farm employment, soybean farmers are desperately searching for anything that will save them time-which in this case turns our to be genetically engineered soybeans.

But as Benbrook's report indicates even this "benefit" will likely be short-lived as weeds develop increasing resistance to Roundup and as the herbicide-resistant plants themselves degenerate in terms of hardiness and resistance to disease over time.

"There's a clock ticking now for Roundup," Benbrook stated. A press release from the University of Missouri in Columbia 2/5/01 reported that soybean seed germination rates were "down sharply" this year, a likely reflection of the lack of hardiness and susceptibility to disease of genetically engineered plants. Roundup and other glyphosate products made up $2.6 billion of Monsanto's $5.5 billion in sales last year.

St. Louis Post Dispatch May 3, 2001

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

This documents the lies that Monsanto has been promoting to promote the sale of its products. Even if the GMO crops worked as advertised I and most serious scientists would be opposed to their use. But the sad tragedy is that they don't, as this article documents, even provide the benefits they are claimed to.

Related Articles:

Health Risks of Genetically Modified Foods

Genetically Modified Crops Worry Some Scientists

Genetically Altered Plants Might Alter You

Americans Don't Know They are Eating Genetically Modified Food

Genetically Modified genes jump the "species barrier"